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In the early 1850s, James Brown ("JB") Edney met and married Elizabeth, and promptly produced their first child, Martha Simpson Edney. Two further children followed: Elizabeth Webster Edney and James Welsh Edney. Like their parents, James and Elizabeth saw the death of many children, with Elizabeth and then Martha dying in 1857 and 1858.

The family may have been nomadic for a period, with Elizabeth Webster Edney’s birth being recorded in Glennock, and her death in Forfar, Fife, but the family was back in Dundee by 1857. Recorded addresses for the family in Scotland are:

7 April 1855

Brownlies Court - 20 Cathcrt St Greenock

29 January 1857

31 Hunter St Dundee

20 July 1857

40 Hawkhill Dundee

28 April 1858

29 Hunter St Dundee

It was at this time that the family received word from JB's father in Australia. John Robertson Edney had completed his convict sentence, purchased a property in Wagga Wagga, and was to pay for his wife to travel to Australia to join him. James and Elizabeth decided to accompany James’ mother to Australia, with their now only child, James Welsh Edney.

John Robertson paid a remittance of 15 pounds to bring his wife Elizabeth out from Scotland, while JB paid 15 pounds for himself, his wife and son to accompany Elizabeth. They traveled on board the Caribou, leaving Liverpool on 7 July 1859 and arriving in Sydney on 4 October 1859. Elizabeth gave birth to another child, Mary Welsh Edney, on the voyage.

The Caribou carried about 370 passenger. The Edneys were among the minorty on board, with the majority of passengers being roman catholic, could not read or write, had no relations already in Australia, and were being transported as part of the Irish Donegal Relief Fund. The Edneys were literate, and presbyterian.

In Australia, the family moved onto the Wagga Wagga property purchased by John Robertson (later called Mount Edney Farm). By 1959, the family ran a saw pit on the property.

James and Elizabeth has another nine children after they settled in Wagga Wagga, with the youngest, Walter, being born in 1880 when Elizabeth was 46.